Solid Foods Could Help Infants Sleep Better, Study Says

ST. LOUIS (KMOX)- Most pediatricians recommend that babies should be exclusively breastfed until six months, but a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics found that feeding food to babies at an earlier age may help them sleep better. CBS News Medical contributor Dr. Tara Narula says researchers followed 1300 3-month-old infants.

“They divided them into two groups: one that was exclusively breastfed until 6 months and one where they started solids as early as 16 weeks. And that group that they started solids in did sleep, on average, longer, about two hour per week, woke up less, about two times per week, and improved quality of life for moms, so it may be beneficial for sleep all around,” she says.

Critics say that the improvements in sleep were small and that introducing solids too early could reduce the amount of breastmilk babies consume.